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After losing to yet another top-10 team, West Virginia has to be relieved to see an unranked opponent next on its schedule.
Games against Texas, though, haven't been a whole lot easier for the 24th-ranked Mountaineers since joining the Big 12.
West Virginia heads to Austin on Saturday with hopes of bouncing back from a heartbreaking loss, while the Longhorns try to get back to .500 by beating their first ranked foe in eight tries.
West Virginia's three defeats have come against top-10 teams, the latest being last Saturday's last-second 31-30 home loss to then-No. 10 TCU.
That dropped the Mountaineers (6-3, 4-2) two games behind Kansas State in the loss column for the Big 12 lead. They built a 13-point first-quarter edge and led by nine at the start of the fourth, but fell off offensively over the course of the second half before TCU's field goal as time expired.
West Virginia turned the ball over a season-high five times and managed only 121 yards of offense in the second half.
"I take responsibility for what happened out there offensively," coach Dana Holgorsen said. "It's not acceptable. It's not going to win football games."
Quarterback Clint Trickett could also shoulder some of the blame after going 15 of 26 for a season-low 162 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions.
Top receiver Kevin White was limited to 28 yards and three catches for a second straight game. The senior averaged 9.8 catches and 145.7 yards in his first seven, prompting questions of whether West Virginia needs to do more to get the ball in his hands.
"That is up to the coaches to decide scheme-wise," Trickett said. "If people are going to put two guys on him then other people are going to be open. You are going to have to give your best players the ball though."
Improving through the air against Texas (4-5, 3-3) could be difficult. The Longhorns' pass defense ranks ninth in FBS at 177.3 yards per game, while their 5.62 yards per attempt are sixth.
West Virginia has beaten its five unranked opponents by an average of 20.6 points, but it's split its first two conference meetings against Texas. The Mountaineers won 48-45 in Austin two years ago and the Longhorns won 47-40 in overtime last season in Morgantown.
Defensively, West Virginia isn't thrilled with how it projects against Texas' physical running game with backs Malcolm Brown and Johnathan Gray and a big line.
"It's not a good matchup for us," defensive coordinator Tony Gibson said. "They're big and powerful, and they're going to try and run the ball and wear us down a little bit. We are going to have our work cut out for us."
The Longhorns ran for a season-high 241 yards in last Saturday's 34-13 win at Texas Tech, but it's been a different story against top teams. Texas has dropped its four games against the Top 25 this season and averaged 11.4 points during a seven-game skid against ranked opponents.
"This is a Top 25 team and we're going to have to do our best to beat this team," coach Charlie Strong said. "They're playing so well right now. ... We need to go finish. That's what we haven't done well is go finish. We didn't finish early against UCLA. We didn't finish against Oklahoma, and we played well against Baylor. But we need to go finish these games."
The growing connection between quarterback Tyrone Swoopes and receiver John Harris could help make that happen. Swoopes found Harris five times for a career-high 165 yards against Texas Tech, and Harris is averaging 111.0 yards over his last four.
"Three years he'd been there and not done anything," Strong said. "I think he'd been in more trouble than out on the playing field. ... But when it came to the games he started playing well. It's just fun to just watch him right now."
Texas, which hasn't won back-to-back games this season, needs to win two of its final three to avoid missing a bowl for just the second time in 17 years.
It won't be easy. The Longhorns visit Oklahoma State next week before closing at home against TCU.
